LUDVIK J. AND MARY [NIKL] KLIMES
Ludvik J. Klimes was born August 16, 1890, and came to America from
his home in Bohemia at the age of 16 years. He settled in the Jelen
community and in 1908 married Mary Nikl. They owned and operated the
Nikl and Klimes store and post office with her parents at Jelen,
Nebraska. They were blessed with one daughter, Marie.
Later the store was sold to John Sedivy, and the Klimes and Nikl
families moved to Verdigre.
Ludvik bought the furniture and funeral business from Joe Schmidt.
He became the first State Licensed Embalmer in Verdigre in the year
of 1916. He also introduced the first motorized hearse, a 1916 Model
Buick.
This business was conducted in the building now occupied by Hardware
Hank. About 1920 the Klimes family visited Ludvik’s homeland and
then moved to Ontario, California, where Ludvik and his
brother-in-law, Clement Svoboda, has a furniture store.
Ludvik passed away at Ontario, California, October 27, 1983.
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